


Not meant to be

by hereticjellyzzzz



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Forced Marriage, Grief/Mourning, Post-Wedding, Rare Pairings, Robert Baratheon is a shit, Wedding Night, Widowed, cersei lannister is also a shit, dorna swyft is also dead, stannis is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:53:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereticjellyzzzz/pseuds/hereticjellyzzzz
Summary: Stannis dies after the greyjoy rebellion and robert decides to grant dragonstone to his future second son, shireen is dishinherited and selyse is forced to marry the queen's uncle. Kevan lannister, who shortly before lost his dear wife in childbirth is displeased and so is selyse. This fic is about their marriage.
Relationships: Kevan Lannister/Dorna Swyft (mentioned), Kevan Lannister/Selyse Baratheon, Kevan Lannister/Selyse Florent, Selyse Baratheon/Stannis Baratheon (mentioned)
Kudos: 11





	Not meant to be

**Author's Note:**

> im trying to write about weird pairings and none has written a selyse/kevan before so.... i did.

They were never meant to be, she knows. She was meant to birth baratheon heirs not lannister's but as her husband died shortly after the greyjoy's rebelion and she birthed a girl the king decided to disinherited his own niece and passed _her_ , his brother's widow, to his good family.  
  
 _Out of sight out of mind._  
  
She stands there in the golden sept of lannisport with a blank expression, her bridegroom in contrast looks angry.  
  
His normal placid features- not that she ever had see him before- are gone, his scowl could rival the one of his older brother and there are deep lines in his face.He avoids to look at her as much as he can and his eyes glare at her as he says his vows. He leans brusquely and his lips are cold on her cheek and his touch does not linger for more than a second, she feels a void in her stomach.  
  
 _He hates me._  
  
She had tried to rid herself of the mustache and mostly succeeded but she can not change her soft belly from her recent pregnancy nor the ears which she had been born. She is plain and tall and not even a maiden as she was in her first wedding, she knows she is no prize and he does not doubt in make his displeasure known.  
  
She looks around at the sea of mostly blonde people cheering for them and thinks about when she received the letter from that smuggler containing the news of stannis's death. She had read it and not believed it, thinking an ill sort of joke befitting a common man even as in the back of her head she knew this davos her husband favored so much was sensible and loyal, even if rough around the edges, the maester cressen in the other hand had looked pale and a strange sorrow had marred his aged face, he made started to make some arrangements meant to retrieve their lord’s body and when she said she should not, that stannis was alive and the letter was lying the old man stared at her with pity in his eyes.  
  
Only after a few days other letters arrived , a short message bearing the kings seal confirmed the news and he curtly gave her condolences , then selyse was not able to deny it anymore and she clutched her belly as she realized she was a widow.  
  
She had barely time for the fact to sink in when another letter ,this time from kingslanding, arrived summoning her to the red keep. She had expected the king to see her but she later learned the man was not even there at the time but in lannisport, participating in a tourney. The only important courtier who received her was lord baelish who had said that the his grace did not want her to give birth alone in a barren rock but to be supported by her good family in the capital. But selyse did not believe him, she had strongly suspected it was in reality it the queen whom summoned her because the woman had never liked her and mocked her with thinly veiled insults as much as she could get away every time they had been in the same place , in contrast the king ignored her presence aside from the occasional crass joke, he cared not a jote for his ugly brother’s wife.

Either way she did not see any of them before shireen was born, she had been heavily pregnant and no much later than a three weeks she had given birth to her child in the company of grand master pycelle and a few midwifes.  
  
The birth had been difficult and she remained in her rooms with the babe after a week when the king and his kingsguard arrived and she had then been invited to the court.  
  


She remembers holding shireen in her arms in front the throne room when robert announced he would give dragosntone to his youngest son since stannis had left no male heir. Most of the courtiers smiled and cheered but a few of the most level headed looked at her direction.

Cersei had also looked at her smirking as a cat and selyse understood it had been her work, she was patting robert’s hand,  
  
Cold fury had gripped her heart and she had start to scream about her daughter's rights when the king silenced her with a roar. His blue eyes were angry and his face red as he yelled back that it was his right to do as he pleased, that if she would not have so unworthy wife maybe his brother would have sired more children on her or at least fought harder to return. Every word had targeted her insecurities and her defiance had crumbled as her eyes watered as he keep going about all her faults, to her ugly ears and flat chest to her whore cousin and annoying relatives.  
  
He kept going until he had no more venom to spit at her all the while she bent her head and bite her lips, her shoulders were hunched and she feel like the most horrid creature in existence, something worth nothing and completely useless.

She had swallowed her tears and he was silent for a few seconds apparently expecting a rebuke but when she did not offer any, he waived his hand an informed her with an annoyed expression that even as she had failed her basic duty as a wife he was generous. She and her daughter will live comfortably on casterly rock and want for nothing.

He then called for a lord to present his grievances and the kingslayer approached to guide her to the chamber she was staying, his blonde hair shinned with the light and his eyes were bored and barely looked at her direction and she hated the man.

She hated them all. Jaime Lannister, the king, the queen and the courtiers, everyone of them considered her no more important than yesterday’s trash, everyone of them had spit in her face and her daughter’s.   
  
  
She had been mute in the way in and only after the man left she let herself despair. She did not smash everything on the room as some would have done only because she could not still accept what had happened . Stannis dead , shireen robbed of her inheritance and herself married off.  
  
She was sure -is sure- that woman was the one who did it all. Cersei had been the one pushing the king so her new son could have a keep of his own and she had left her daughter with nothing.  
  
Shireen was heiress of nothing, not even dragonstone when her birthright was storm's end.  
  
  
  
Lord kevan accidentally bumps his arm in hers and she looks at him. They sit in silence in the high table while his brother's bannermen make toast after toast. She tries to initiate a conversation but he frowns and refuses her attempts curtly ,her own abilities were never that great so she let it be and falls silent. For something to do she decides to look at the other lannisters that are close.  
  
The old lion sits at his brother's side and he looks… displeased, his head is bald and the lines in his face made him appear gaunt and angry and he offers platitudes to no one but he quietly talks with her sister, in contrast the lady genna chatters and smiles but her green eyes are hard whenever she looks at her. To her side there are some lannister’s cousins, everyone of them blonder than the next and she is distracted when someone bang his cup on the table.

  
Then the lord tywin stands and gives permission for the bedding to proceed, a sea of people separate them, she soon lost sight of her new husband but not before being able to catch lord kevan's scowl when the ladies approach him, the lady genna is the only brave enough to push and her him away and she directs the crowd to the bedchamber.  
  
  
The lords in contrast pay no attention to her feelings. She endures it as well as she can manage but the men start to make jokes if she is hairy down as she is up and she goes stift , she glares at them and they laugh but at least she knows this would be the only humiliation. The old lion would never bed any of her cousins in her marriage bed, not that any florent was present in the wedding.  
  
She is naked when they deposit her in the bed, she has barely time to gather her bearings when her husband kicks the door open . His doublet is open to his navel and there are nail marks in his torso and the women behind him giggle and laugh until he closes the door on their noses.  
  
His already dark expression goes darker at seeing her perched in the bed. She tries to covert her breasts but soon realizes it’s a mistake , he does no oogle or leer, his gaze only falls on her belly.  
  
He frowns more and shakes his head before speaking.  
  
-" How long has it been? Two moons? Three?"-  
  
She starts and stared at him before catching his meaning.  
-" a moon and week, my lord"-  
  
His face turns from angry to disgusted and she shrinks on herself. She knows she is not beautiful and pregnancy has made her more undesirable, marring her skin with purple marks and making her fat but she had hoped...  
  
She shakes her head. It does not matter.. as long as he does his duty and does not shame her..  
  
-"Are you still bleeding, then?"-  
  
Her face goes red with shame. She looks down to her pale hands, her long fingers clenching and unclenching nervously and she nods.  
  
Everything is silent for minutes until she hears him plop over a fancy chair near by.  
  
She looks up and sees a magnificent oak desk covered in parchments and maps and then her eyes go over the whole room. There are golden and red and black breeches inside a closet and a sword and a dagger hangs from a wall. Over the small table near the bed is a small book and a quill .  
  
This is his chamber, she thinks.  
  
  
She gathers her courage and speaks. -"My lord, would you .. would you not come?"- she can not contain her astonishment at his actions and she feels unsure, vulnerable in a way stannis never made her feel in spite of his hardness.  
  
Green eyes open and swiftly narrow . His lips curl in half a snarl, half a grimace and her heart drops further .  
  
-" i shall not lady _baratheon_. My niece and the king wanted this union and it has been done but you are no maiden so it does not matter"-  
  
And with that he turns in the big padded chair and goes to sleep . His back is to her and she realizes he has dismissed her without a second thought and shame fills her.  
  
Though she knows he spoke true it still bruises her pride to be so unwanted. However much she had not wanted to hope for something more pleasant than what she had with stannis ,she realizes she and lord kevan have even less.  
  
 _Not even duty._  
  
She knows he also lost her lady wife and she supposes it must have been a marriage for love since the late lady dorna was just a landed knight's daughter and not a lord's but and she had certainly not hoped for him to love her but...  
  
After the news of her bethrotal spread many courtiers went to her to gossip, she was lucky, the brother she would marry was the kind one they would said and immediately point that any lady marrying the queen's father would of course be lucky too.

She remembers the lady stokeworth patting her hands and advising her to make the most of her situation , _this marriage would be easier_ , she had said, _the lord kevan has none of his brother cruelty and you have already married a hard man, my lady._ _  
_  
 _The baratheon widow will have a even better match, her daughter would live as richly as any Lannister_ , said Justin massey.  
  
  
 _The wench is lucky, with a sour face like hers and a moustache in her face she would marry another very highborn man, this time from the richest family on the realm_ , the king had said.  
  


 _Poor child, her daughter has lost her keep but…. It’s already done, his grace wont change his mind and both of them will live confortably for the rest of their days_ , said the wife of lord renfred rykker.  
  


  
Stannis was never like this, she thinks and is surprised to miss him a little.

They did not like each other but understood their duty and he had never been this purposefully cruel. He had never sneered to her in spite her mustache of her difficult to get pregnant or carry a pregnancy and he had always bothered to listen to whatever she said and only then he would make his decision.

He had been honest and unable of courtesy but never this vicious.  
  
She waits for something to happen but after what felt like hours everything remains the same. Her new husband starts to snore softly and she listens to him ,unable to fall sleep.  
  
She is still sitting on the bed when the morning arrives and lord kevan wakes up. He stretches his arms over his head a freezes for a second when he sees her looking at him. His surprised expression only last for a second before being followed by something different and then he storms out of the room.  
  
Her maids then enter and help her to get ready by breakfast. The dresses they brought to her al all red or gold, gaudy with such heavy jeweled ornamentation that she feels uncomfortable and that feeling only gets more pronounced when she realizes that her lord husband is gone and no one would escort her to the hall.  
  
She desires only to stay hidden in the room or maybe go were her daughter is but she knows she can't and with as much dignity she manages, she squares her shoulders and strides alone out of the room.  
  
When she arrives to the hall everyone stares at her. She is not at her husband arms and whispers start from the lower tables to the higher ones.  
  
The ladies from the westerlands all give her pitting looks while some of the lords leer at her-discretely, she is lord tywin's goodsister after all - or ignore her. The queen gives her a mocking smile while her father's gaze is as cold as always.  
  
The kings takes a good minute to realize she is there, waiting for his permission to sit, he gives her a disgusted look before inquiring were is her husband.  
  
She stands there alone, her face red and her fists and jaw clenched , she looks to the floor and is unwilling to say she had been rejected and does not know where lord kevan is .  
  
Of course her silence is enough answer to the question, many if not all the present understand what she does not say and there are some soft laughs and giggles and her face burns hotter before the lord tywin stands.  
  
\- " my brother is visiting his late's wife grave"-  
  
All is silence in the presence of the lion of the rock. None dare to laugh or whisper in his presence..both he and the king exchange glares , both unwilling to bend, but the king loses his interest , or fakes it so, and waves a hand to her.  
  
-"i hope you do not lose this husband as you lost my brother, lady selyse"-  
  
She longs to speak him as callously as he does. To remind him his own marriage is no better than hers was or to point how his wife shrinks from his touch or that his children barely know who he is …but she falls silent.  
  
She sits and eats for something to do since none talk to her. The food tastes of nothing and she fights nausea.  
  
After the breakfast is over she flees. She debates between returning to his room or going to the sept to pray but she does not want to confront her husband and opts for visiting her daughter.  
  
A maid directs her to the nursery and she is surprised to hear his voice. She does not understand why he is there until she remembers his wife -his late wife- died birthing twins and he must be visiting them. Selyse thinks it odd since they are only babes and not many men are interested in them until they are old enough to train or hold a sword. In her confusion she stands there like a fool listening to his soft words and she is so enthralled by his voice that she does not move away quickly enough when he opens the door.  
  
He collides with her and she is sent to the floor. She hits her wrist hard and it hurts but she is more concerned about him. His face is hard and whatever good humour she felt before is gone. He bends towards her and yanks her up in a swift movement and then disappears through a corridor.  
  
She stays immobile in the same spot for a few moments not knowing what to do before deciding against following and then she enters the room cautiously. There are two cots, one containing two blonde fat babes and one containing her daughter.  
  
She looks around and the wet nurse appears. The woman is younger than her and has brown hair and is quite small stature, she curtsies and then goes to feed one of her husband's sons.  
  
Selyse walks to her daughter’s crib, shireen is asleep, she is tiny and doesn’t have anything of her father in her aside of her black hair. She knows the babe is weak and smaller than she should be so selyse decides to let her rest and then tries to return to her room.  
  
 _His room._  
  
  
She wanders the golden corridors gazing at the portraits of long gone lannister lords and kings. She feels she is inside a tomb. The air is oppressive and casterly rock so massive she is sure she could disappear and with little effort no one would find her again, nobody would complain after all. Not even her new husband. The man despises her .  
  
She gulps down tears. No one wants her . Her mother always preferred delenna to her, even after her cousin proved to be a whore. Her father disliked her blunt ways and would have happily wed her to any landless knight just so he could ride himself of her if he would not have died shortly after her tenth nameday. Her uncle cared not a jot for her, and he only proposed her as an option for stannis because he was asked who was the oldest of his nieces.  
And her late husband preferred the company of his onion knight to hers, he had bedded her only thrice in all the years of their marriage.  
  
  
She is lost in her mind and does not realize her husband has passed her.  
  
The man calls her when she is already a few steps away and she turns suddenly at his voice.  
  
-" I had been looking for you,my lady.."- his voice is softer and his eyes are clear and calm.  
  
She tries to discretely dry her tears but her voice has a high pitch that she can not contain. -" i apologize for intruding on you, i did not know you were there ...in the nursery"-  
Selyse says as she looks to the side, to the stone walls and then to the carpet on the floor. She expects a reply but he says nothing and she swallows bile.  
  
 _He is ignoring me. Again._

  
  
But she knows he is still there, she can see his boots from the corner of her eyes and her nervousness increases, her stomachs growls and she wants to retch so before she could disgrace herself in his presence she flees.  
  
One step, two steps and she runs faster and faster.. she gathers her skirts in her fists and ignores his calls as much as the faces of the surprised servants. She does not stop even as she gazes at lord tywin glaring at her from a balcon and she keeps running until her legs burn from the effort .  
  
She takes a turn for the left and ends in another interminable corridor that opens to many chambers, she ignores them and keeps running until she passes an empty hall, she starts to walk and finds her way to one tower, she climbs the stairs swiftly and then goes about exploring. The place seems unused and dusty, and finally fatigue catches on her and she sits under a big window. The helm of his crimson gown is filthy and so her long sleeves, she is sweating under her thick corset and petticoats and pats her forehead with her hands while her chest in heaving.

She is a mess. Her whole live is a mess. She has nothing but her daughter. It would not surprise her if lord kevan seeks an annulment later or at least lets her locked up in some forgotten chamber on casterley rock. She has no way to protest and he would never love her as he did his late’s wife. She would live here alone and hated until she dies.

She cries.

She remains there on the floor weeping until sleep claims her.

Unbeknownst to her an alarm has been raised in the castle, quietly the red cloaks are searching for her in every room, corridor and hall. Only after three hours she is found, she is tired and angry and the men seems unsure ton how to approach her,she glares at them before the oldest decides to send for her husband.

She almost tells them that he would not come before thinking better, she has created enough scandal already and she is not keen on testing her new husband’s patience or de one of her good-brother.

Kevan Lannister indeed does not come but sends the old maester in his place, the man offers her milk of the poppy and she wants to refuse but knows that if she does the guards would force the concoction down her throat.

She takes the potion and in a matter of minutes sleep claims her again.

**Author's Note:**

> i did not find a picture of the actor who interpreted kevan lannister while he was young even though i searched for hours, so i just put the one i found in pinterest and liked the best. i considered posting the one of lancel lannister but acording to the wiki kevan was a stouter man and so i did not fit in my mind.


End file.
